Hosiery reknitting needle



Aug. 3, 1948. B 5 2,446,225

HOS IERY REKNITTING NEEDLE Filed June 1'7, 1944 INVENTOR jBe'A TR/CE GEOPGI ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 3, 1948 UNITED i HosIERYiREKNIT iNGiN EnLg.

ismonkefisa N; Y: .Applicationluneil'l, 1944, Serial N01 540,805;

The present invention---re1ates to ihosiery freknitting needles, and is more particularly directed toward reknitting needles adapted'for'high speedoperation from apower operatorfi As is Well known the mendingonreknittihg-bf "hosiery includes the use-of"a"-hookwhich picks up the loop at-the -lower'end 'of a -ladder or -'run, and then passes this-loop overthe first-course of the ladder, then picks up =this1addereourse, forms it into a loop'and passes it overthe next tfirstistBp in" stern-figs remitting for mendin ibp Fitirii is asideielevational view of the reknitcourse of-the' ladder, this mperationmroceedihg until the entire length-of the run ha's been reknitted. During the operation each l'oop is successively passed beyond a latch and then is d'ischarged from thenee'dle over -the latch so asi'to he released on to the next loop. v

-I-Iand. operated devices for thesepurposes are :well known, but "they have 1 been unsatisfactory for use in high speed power' operated reknitting devices because of thelikelihood of nthexhook picking up .morethamone threadat one -time 'or :0f thelatch ioverlapping inore thanone thread,

0 either iofwhich would result in an imperfect-knit.

The present invention contemplates providing moved 'forw Figure'fl is e; View. showing Show 'g i heavyuunilinesth needle as i it ,is aboumo be. inserted into the .fabric'fin. li ht iuu .linesfthe, positioii'wh'eiillit been lowered "into the fabric tovcads'ethe run to'ie'xtendto a loop which is caught in the hook ahd'in' light. dotted .linesfth position Wheniit. has .beenlifted up and alidlyito carrythfloopiinfront of the inJLhe'aVMffuH lines "the needle at the .end Lof. the. next" .do'wn stroke where the loopis" abovelthe latch and theladder course caught n .theihook, ji nj light .full lines the .end iof jthe; outj stroke before moving forwardly,

jan'dfln' dotted lines, the forward movement.

, Figurellillustrates the use" of the. hosiery repairing-firhachine. .whiclifin'clu des. a .fixed 3 stroke neediet reciprociatorzn prereraip a magneti de- 'vice1powered. from an electronicv impulsels'ender.

..It"i s held inionelliand atlab'outfthe sloping. position in icated in i uren, while the stocking is held over a. m'endingcubfll iby'theotherlhand.

The hand operated. toolflnclude'sl ifikalddition to the needle reciprodator a; needle generaHyLdesi natea y the reference jcnaracterN. This. needle forces the other: course forwardly: soc-that :itJdoes not get to thehookand latch.

Other and further objects will hereinaftere appear as the description. proceeds;

i The accompanying drawings: :shOW; for. .purposes of i11ustrating. the -.present invention; :an embodiment in which the inventio mayttake form, it being understood that the drawingss are illustrative of the invention rather-.thanlimitin the same.

arrowd of Figure 3;

Figure 5 isaperspective-viewillustratifigiithe lsiprovi ded' with .a supporting, bar for; shank- 22 by which *it' may. be detachably secured 'jtol the This bar or'. shank is preferably? a thin. piece of :stiff steel and has 'a. hookl23'which extends. back parallels withythe general direction" or the. needle 'andjhas. axointindieatedfat 24.. The shank also .1 has a'hunip portion 25 slotted as indicated at" 26 toreceiveaelatch 21; :Thela'tch ispivotedlas indicatedtat 21"."an-d is "movable. fromfa: position where it. overlies theffipoiht jof the hook, as indicated' irifull lines'iing'figure :3 to aniuppergposi- "tion abovethe'huinpl V f 'Ifhe .rekhitting needle is also provided with a guard 2:8 having oneportion 29 "attached to the shank ontbar some distance" above the upper. positijorr bft "latch" 21; The lower-portion of the uard, indicated at i3[If-isQdiLDqsBdflaterallybf the hump, thedatchand the'point' oi the needle-so as to provide. a narrow space. adapted; to'be traviersed by the "thread, 1 Thej guardihas a straight rear-surfacedndicated at 332 :Which is. preferably even withthe top of thehump 25. ;It. has airont sur'fdce133: which, slopes toward the. point of the needle and, 'acts to deflectjohe. ladder. course I toward the hookL-a rounded Jnjo'se 134T. {and aT-iront one thread which is about 3 edge 35 which is generally parallel with the shank and spaced forwardly at a suitable distance to enter behind the second ladder course.

Figure 5 illustrates a typical hosiery run. A number of unimpaired courses of hosiery are indicated at A, B, C, D, E and two ladder courses at F and G. The needle N is pressed against the loops below the ladder, as indicated in Figures 5 and 6. Here the needle is being pushed in between the threads forming courses A and B.' The needle is slightly wider than the normal spacin of the courses of thread in the hosiery, and as the needle moves from the full line position in Figure 6 down into the fabric it spreads A and B slight-' ,ly apart. causes the run to extend down to the needle so that the threads or courses D, C and E now become rungs of the ladder,

When the needle has been pushed down far enough to bring the loop B against the bottom side of the latch 21, itlifts this latch and passes under the latch and inside the point of the hook. This is indicated in light. full lines in Figure 6 where the position of the thread B is indicated at B. The needle is then moved upwardly so as to withdraw it from the fabric with thethreadB in the bottom of the hook and the ntireneedle is moved forwardly as indicated in the dotted line position of Figure 6. Now thread B in the position indicated at B" is above the fabric level. The needle is then moved downwardly to the position indicated in heavy full lines in Figure 7. This will cause the thread'B to lift'the latch 21 to the upper position and pass by it to arrive at the position indicated at B'. At substantially the same time the ladder thread C is deflected toward the hook and passes inside as indicated at C, and when the needle is lifted to the position shown in light full lines in Figure 7, the loop B causes the latch to move to the lower position so that the loop B is discharged over the latch, and over the thread C which is still in the ho'ok,1 and the latter becomes a new loop, When the needle is moved to the dottedline position of Figure '7 the thread C is in the position of C" corresponding with-the thread B" at the end all width including the guard and the'needle is such that when the needle is pushed down into the fabric, as indicated in Figure 7, the lower surface of the guard has engagedthe thread C and guided it next the point of the hook. At the same time the forward surface 35 of the uard V has passed down behind thread D so that there is no possibility of thread D passing into the hook along with thread C. Furthermore it will be noted that the guard extends beyond thepoint of the latch 21 so that the latchrnoves backland forth in a region in which it is impossible for the latch to engage or overlap any thread except the u to pass under it and get into the hook. I .f f ,The constructionshown and described herein is one which'has beenfound to be extremely well adapted for use with high speed, fixed stroke magnetically controlled devices and operating at speeds of several thousand strokes a minute. ,"In using the needle the operator manually p'i'cks'up 'thefirst loop and can, if desired, operate the de- The needle itself is slightly vice manually to take a few stitches, but usually the power is applied and the reknitting accomplished over the distance permitted by the mending cup.

Since it is obvious that the invention may be embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the claims, I wish it to be understood that the particular form shown is but one ,of these forms, and various modifications and changesbeing possible, I do not otherwise limit myself in any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. The improvement in a hosiery reknitting needle having a shank, a pointed latch pivoted to the shank, the shank having a hump adjacent the pivot for the latch and a hook having its free end adjacent to but spaced from the hump to admit a thread, the latch protruding beyond the hump and being swingable between an inner or lower position where a loop already knitted into the hosiery fabric may be passed from inside the hook over the hump and up beyond the end of the latch and be received on the shank, and an outer or lower position opposite the end of the hook so that the said loop may be discharged over the hook, which improvement comprises a guard carried by the shank terminating adjacent the point of the hook and laterally spaced from thepoint of the hook, from the hump, and from the latch and the portion of the shank receiving the loop from the latch, the guard having a loweredge aligned with the point of the hook for deflecting a ladder run towards the latch and a front face spaced beyond the path of the point of the latch and adapted to enter behind the next rung.

2. A hosiery reknitting needle having a hook, a pointed latch and a. shank generally disposed in one plane and a ladder-thread separating guard lateral of the shank, from the latch and from the point only of the hook for separatingthe ladder threads so that only one such thread enters the hook, its lower edge being aligned with the point of the hook.

3. A hosiery reknitting needle having a hook adapted to be passed through the space between .two successive hosiery courses and pick up the loop .at the end of a ladder and pass it forward of the lower rung of the ladder, a pointed latch be- .yond which the loop may pass from thehook when the hook picks up the said ladder rung to form a second loop and for discharging" the first loop over the second loop, the latch and hook, and a guard alongside the latch and point only of the hook for facilitating the entry of the lower course of the ladder into the hook below the latch while the first loop is above the latch, and for nosing the next course of the ladder away from the point of the hook so that the hook receives only one ladder course at a time, the front edge of the guard being beyond the path of the point of the latch. r

4. A hosiery reknitting needle having a hook adapted to be inserted into hosiery fabric so as to pick up a loop of such fabric, and a guard-having a lower surface extending away from the hook and point at an acute angle with the hook point axis so as to guidea thread toward the hook, the guard being disposed laterally of-the point only of the needle and extendng forwardly to intercept the courses in advance of the loop being picked to keep it away from the hook;

5. A hosiery reknitting needle having a shank,

a hook whose width is slightly greater than the 'normal spacing'of the courses of thread in hosiery so that when inserted into a loop it stretches the loop and the loop readily enters the hook, and a pointed latch pivoted to the shank and having its point movable toward and away from the point of the hook, and a guard lateral of the latch and point only of the hook, the width of the guard being suflicient to deflect one rung thread toward the latch and hold away from the point of the latch the adjacent ladder thread.

6. A hosiery reknitting needle having the usual hook and latch which when operated in the usual manner is adapted to convert a hosiery ladder into reknitted fabric, and provided with a guard along side the latch and point only of the hook and having a reentrant end surface for facilitating the entry of the lower course of the ladder into the hook below the latch while the first loop is above the latch, and a front edge beyond the path of the point of the latch for nosing the next course of the ladder away from the point of the hook so that the hook receives only one ladder course at a time.

BEATRICE GEORGI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

